Get Your Own Show!

“‘Over The Edge’ would never have achieved its present level of adeptness if it had not had years to develop. This aspect has allowed not only the perfection of techniques, but also evolving practices such as subtle but fruitful themes which would never occur as anyone’s first choice, returning casts of characters, regular ‘features’, a whole fictional network called The Universal Media Netweb, and countless interrelated ‘plots’ and fantasys which have developed over time. And just when all that becomes too familiar, we can pull a complete hoax and pretend to replace O.T.E. with some other show entirely. All this depends on the ability to play with regularity. (A key to understanding the effects of all transmission media.) Being somewhat interactive in unfamiliar ways, O.T.E. in particular, requires a regularly scheduled slot which listeners can become acquainted with and, over time, explore their own ways to develop a creative relationship with it. Such potentials are not always fulfilled, but they are important potentials to hold out, and there is always next week… I repeat: GET YOUR OWN SHOW.”

I first heard about Don Joyce’s radio show, “Over The Edge” in late 2015. I wanted to learn about Negativland and their aesthetic, which led down the path to their website, mention of the “Over The Edge” radio program and its classic shows, many of which are available on the Internet Archive. It was hard listening at first, particularly since it was around Thanksgiving and I had decided that the Islamic Thanksgiving was a good place to start. Over time, the idea of pre-recorded sounds on a theme and random noise, audience/performer interaction in the form of “Receptical Programming”, provocative content challenging the worldview of our culture, and the uniqueness of the experience started speaking to me. I wanted more of this in my life (beyond the podcast). I wanted to “get my own show!”

What kind of show? My initial thought is to publish a weekly piece of writing and an image on the theme to this blog on Tuesday at 0200 UTC. As a technique, I’m thinking of starting with cut-ups, mash-ups, quotes and commentary either on some theme and seeing what develops from there. I am committing to doing this throughout 2017. In the coming year(s), I will review what I have written over the course of the year during the month of December and either recommit to doing the show for the coming year or abandon the project altogether.

I anticipate many of these writings to be in response to our media landscape and to our celebrity culture – where everything is so intertwined that it is difficult to tell the false from the true, where there is so much information to process and little time to process it before the next thing comes along, that the only way to respond is to focus in on some small fraction that reveals facets of the whole. In a world full of flimflam, maybe the only rational response is confusion and nonsense.